


"Baymax, ow"

by Unwoundclock



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: AU where Tadashi and Hiro aren't related, Aged-Up Hiro, Kissing, M/M, Rating May Change, They're 15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-13 03:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3365258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unwoundclock/pseuds/Unwoundclock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiro is the young leader of a notorious Battle Robot gang called 'The Nerds.' They have no competitors...except for a mysterious battler who sometimes comes around, dominates robot battles, and leaves love letters behind for people to give to Hiro.</p><p>Hiro probably likes him more than should. <em> Probably.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: I wanted to link to some awesome fanart Ingenuemi drew for this fic chapter: http://vialisha12.deviantart.com/art/Drawn-for-a-fic-514592393 and http://vialisha12.deviantart.com/art/the-other-part-of-the-thing-for-the-fic-514592396. Thank you so much!!! It looks so good!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _From childhood's hour I have not been_  
>  _As others were; I have not seen_  
>  _As others saw; I could not bring_  
>  _My passions from a common spring._  
>  -Edgar Allen Poe

One move, that's all it took. That's all it usually took.

The opposing robot's screws popped from the sides of its metal head and collapsed. The fighter across from him stared at the scrap remains that had previously been their robot.

"And Megabot wins again!"

Now, Hiro didn't like to brag, but it was indisputable that he was the best robot fighter around. Everyone knew it, and that's why the line to fight him was so long. If they beat him they'd get a lot of money. A ton of money, frankly. More than Hiro himself would know what to do with. That's because he'd been doing this for years.

That, and there was the possibly of Hiro possibly inviting them to be one of The Nerds.

See, he'd built up quite the reputation. A reputation for getting threatened by pissed off bosses yeah, but also a reputation for skill and hey, let's face it, ruthlessness. He didn't go easy, he wasn't merciful.

 _Don't battle your bots if you can't face them getting destroyed_ , was his motto.

He'd also built up a following of robotics inventors. A specialized gang that built robots to battle in Robot fights and raked in the cash afterwards. They were called The Nerds, because they were, kind of. They weren't the bullied type of nerds though, no. If anything, they were the bullies. The Nerds consisted of Go Go Tomago, Wasabi, Honey lemon, Fred, and of course, Hiro, the leader. They were an odd collaboration. A little too random, a little dysfunctional. In battles though, they worked like together like a charm.

They didn't really have any real competitors other than the company kids and Mystery Guy. The company kids just bought their robots from high-tech building companies with their rich parent's money. Usually, even those robots were no match for The Nerd's hand-made, stitched together bots. Mystery Guy was a little more...well, mysterious. He was a guy that sometimes went to battles and totally obliterated the competitors with his robots. No one knew who he was, but everyone was afraid of going up against him in battle. Those aside, The Nerds were unparalleled when it came to bot fighting. 

Hiro held up Megabot and the crowd cheered enthusiastically as his defeated competitor slunk from the ring. He picked up his money from the dish and looked around towards the line to see who his next competitor would be. The line had shrunk considerably, as it always did when the people saw what Hiro's robot could dish out, and there were only a few people left. They looked nervous, clutching their robots to their chest or protectively in their arms. All except for one guy.

He was Hiro's age, or looked like it. He had on a boyish baseball hat and a large sweatshirt. His cheeks were smudged with oil and in his hand was a small red and white box. Hiro raised an eyebrow at the kid and the boy in the baseball hat smiled and waved at him. The boy _waved_. Hiro made a face but it went unnoticed as the referee waved her fan at the boy.

"Kid, you paying?" She held out the steel tray and the boy's eyebrows shot up and he nodded as he handed over a fistful of crumpled, kind of oil-stained bills. The referee sneered but let the boy into the ring with a, "I hope you know who you're up against."

The boy sat down across from him and smiled shyly. It was a sincere, hopeful smile. Hiro wasn't sure how to react to that so he just slapped on his normal, smug grin. This kid looked looked out of place among all of the other people around them. He didn't look tough, or even try to look tough. He seemed like he was fine with what and who he was. That wasn't normal, especially for a teenager.

Hiro rolled in Megabot and baseball hat boy tentatively placed the box down in the ring. Hiro looked at the box and then at the boy. This was a robot fighting battle, right?

"Uhm...You know what you're doing, right?" Hiro said as the boy sat back.

Baseball hat boy smiled again, "Yeah. Oh, uhm."

Hiro raised an eyebrow and frowned but didn't ask about it anymore. People around them murmured. The referee walked into the circle.

"Okay, fight!"

Hiro wasn't sure what to expect, so he hung back and let the other boy make the first move.

"Baymax, ow." the boy said, like he was in a pet store and not in the middle of illegal bot fighting ring. Hiro was unimpressed until the box moved and a large, marshmallow-looking robot stepped out of it. It was a little taller than Hiro and damn, it was made out of vinyl. It said something but Hiro was too busy looking the robot over. It obviously had voice sensors and interpraters installed and everything. Hiro looked for a company label but couldn't find one. Could Baseball hat boy have made the robot himself? No...but what if? Suddenly, Hiro was very impressed.

Hiro only then realized that the crowd was cheering. He still had a battle to fight.

"Alright big boy, let's see what your robot can do," Hiro grinned and Megabot spun forward, propelling itself at the larger, kind of passive robot. On contact Megabot...slung backwards. The skin of the robot was like rubber. It caved in and then snapped Megabot out. Hiro frowned and tried a different approach. Megabot split apart and then twined itself around the white robot's head, squeezing it. It squeezed, and all that happened was that the robot's head deflated, seemingly unhurt. The robot just stood there like nothing was happening. It wasn't even trying to attack Hiro's robot. It was just...there.

"Dude, you know that the point of these things is to fight, right?" Hiro said as he stared at the relaxed boy across from him. The guy just shrugged, an apology and at the same time extremely unapologetic. Hiro huffed, trying to examine the robot for a weak spot. It was covered all over. Naturally, the robot would've been very slow, although probably strong, in battle. It didn't look like the robot had even been designed for fighting though. Instead...

"Did you seriously make a purely defensive bot and bring it here?" Hiro said, realizing that the robot had no real physical weak points, "I've heard of people testing out their inventions but this is something else. Braved the ruthless streets and all just to test your bot in the illegal fighting rings, didn't ya? I gotta admit, he's pretty sturdy."

Some of the people around them murmured in confusion. Obviously, there were still hoping for a show. Hiro sighed, giving the boy an almost regretful look.

"Of course, a robot can only be so sturdy. Even vinyl breaks."

The boy gave him a confused look and Hiro almost felt bad. Almost. He pulled his controller out to its maximum length.

"Megabot, destroy."

Megabot's tiny, yellow face spun to red. Hiro's fingers flicked his controls with practiced ease, causing the pieces of Megabot to run up the white robot's body. The magnets pulled the vinyl up and up and up and then-- _WHOOOSH._

There was the sound of elastic snapping and then leaking air as Baseball hat boy's robot slowly deflated and sank to the ground.

"I am in need of an air pressure check." The robot said, nothing more than a puddle of elastic at that point. The crowd cheered and got back their money and cleared out. The fights were over. Hiro picked up his money and threw up the bills and caught them--okay, maybe he was showing off just a little. Just a little. He looked out the corner of his eye to the other boy.

Baseball hat boy didn't look sad or angry or, well, any of things people usually looked like when they lost. He looked almost content with his loss, like it was just. The boy picked up his deflated robot with a small smile on his face and draped it over his shoulder. Damn, Hiro was too curious to just let the boy go. He tried to look casual as he walked up to him.

"Hey, so, uh." Hiro started and damn, he suddenly remembered why he didn't try the whole talking to strangers thing very often. The other boy--arg, his face was pretty nice too now that Hiro got a good look at it--looked at him and smiled, brown eyes lighting up.

"Oh, hi! Your robot was really cool. It totally snapped the vinyl." The boy said warmly, pointing at his robot. Then he enthusiastically and stuck out his hand, "Oh, right, I'm Tadashi."

Hiro took Tadashi's hand and the other boy shook it enthusiastically while he just tried to keep up with the conversation, "I'm Hiro."

"Nice to meet you, Hiro. Thanks for not really hurting Baymax by the way. I can fix the tear and inflate him again when I get home. It would have been a pain if his inner wires and engines had been broken."

Hiro blushed because oh, the boy had realized that he'd intentionally not hurt his robot. It was just because Baymax way cool, right? Ugh.

"About your robot, uh, Baymax, right? Did you make him yourself?"

Tadashi smiled fondly at his robot, "yep, this guy took a lot of time and effort."

"Why doesn't he, you know, fight?" Hiro asked and wondered if he sounded like a jerk. Usually he kind of sounded like a jerk. Tadashi just grinned.

"Well, I don't want him to fight. That's not what he's going to be used for."

Hiro blinked at him, "what is he going to be used for?"

"He's going to be a Nursing and healthcare aid robot. He's going to save a lot of people. I was just testing out his durability, like you said. Maybe bot fighting was a stupid choice. Oh well, it worked."

Tadashi adjusted his hat and oh dang, that lopsided smile. Hiro blushed again and scowled to hide it, "oh. Yeah, I mean, people at those fights can be pretty touchy and, you know, stabby. You probably shouldn't come here again."

The boy smiled again-- _stop doing that!-_ -and said, "probably?"

Hiro frowned as his blush became more intense, "Yeah, I'm not your mom. I don't care. Bug off, kid."

Suddenly the kid wasn't smiling anymore, "I don't have a mom. Or a dad, for that matter."

Now that shut Hiro up really quick. He looked back at the boy with a new understanding. Hiro had lost his parents too and knew what it was like to deal with it. It wasn't easy. Yeah, he made enough money to support himself now but it sure as hell hadn't been a smooth start. Child services still sometimes came sniffing around for him but there was no way in hell that he was going with them. He knew enough about the system to know that he didn't want to be a part of it. He looked at Tadashi and wanted so badly to say something like "man, I'm sorry" or "How're you holding up" or something like that, like how people usually reacted when he told them. Instead, he said, "oh. I see."

They stared at each other and oh boy, Hiro knew he'd fucked that up. When people told you that their parents were dead you didn't just say "oh. I see" like you were hearing about the stock market rises or something. Ugh. Hiro wanted to walk into the canal at the moment. Tadashi didn't smile but he didn't yell at him either. He just looked kind of confused, which was almost worse. Frick, he thought Hiro was a weirdo, didn't he.

 _Annnnnd_ that was enough social interaction. Hiro abruptly turned around, Megabot in hand, and started walking away. His muddy sneakers made wet noises on the pavement as he walked further and further away from the only boy he'd ever felt even remote attraction to. It was an odd realization, to be honest. He turned the corner from the alleyway onto the street and looked around to orient himself. Where was the closest hotel? He looked at his phone and blanched at the time. 1:46AM. Hotels probably weren't going to be admitting new guests. Fuck, maybe he could ask Go Go if he could crash at her place. Maybe he'd just sleep at The Nerd hideout. Yeah.

He was going to cross the street when there was the pattering of shoes on the wet ground. Hiro looked around as Tadashi nearly collided with him. Hiro's eyes widened and his phone almost slipped out of his fingers. Almost. Tadashi's cheeks were flushed from running and he was breathing hard.

"I--" the boy took another breath, "your parents died too, didn't they."

Hiro floundered, unsure of what to make of the situation. His mouth opened then closed, then before he could really think, "yeah" slipped out of his mouth. It wasn't really something that he told people anymore, more like something he avoided mentioning. It brought back bad memories, and swamps of pity that Hiro didn't want to deal with.

"Yeah, they did." Hiro said more resolutely, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Tadashi nodded, "I knew it."

Then the boy looked a little worried, like he was torn between the happiness of finding someone like him and the sadness of knowing that someone had suffered like him. And then...whoop, there it was. Tadashi looked Hiro over and a full-fledged concerned looked made its way onto his face. Ugh, Hiro got ready for the belittling.

Tadashi apparently saw his face too because the boy opened his mouth then closed it like he knew it was useless. He ran a hand through his short, black hair and then looked back at Hiro with those wide, _oh-fuck-they're-cute_ eyes.

"I have money, you know." Hiro said defensively, even though the other boy hadn't even said anything. Tadashi didn't look comforted. Well, that was his problem. Hiro felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and shit, that was probably Go Go. He didn't even want to know what time it was now. Hiro looked at the boy in front of him, taking in the nice shoes and oh, shit, was that a private school uniform sticking out from under his sweatshirt? Holy fuck, Tadashi should not be out on the streets at this time.

"Look, Tadashi. You should go. I mean it. This place isn't for," Hiro tugged at the vest and white shirt under Tadashi's sweatshirt, "private school, good kids like you."

"I'm not a 'good kid'" Tadashi frowned, hastily tucking the uniform away.

"Sure, and vinyl magically grows in the trash."

Tadashi frowned again and oh, Hiro hated himself. "I got that from the college supplies."

Hiro raised an eyebrow, "you stole from the college supplies?"

The other boy looked embarrassed, "well, kind of, but not really. I mean, I'm going to be going there in a year anyway so it's not really stealing."

"That confident, huh?" Hiro mused as he looked at the boy who was obviously around 15. Nowhere close to college, really.

"Well, I skipped some grades, took some extra classes. Got the, you know, acceptance letter. So uhm, yeah, I am."

Ooh, so the boy did have a snarky side. Hiro smiled. His heart fluttered.

Then his phone vibrated again. Crap, he really had to get going. But he didn't want to leave.

"Hey, so, before I go..." Hiro paused before looking up into the other boy's brown eyes, "if you ever do come back here--not that you should, it's dangerous--but if you do, say you're a friend of The Nerds and you won't be hassled."

Tadashi's mouth quirked up in a smile, "The Nerds? Sounds scary."

Hiro just rolled his eyes and shrugged, "hey, you don't know how many people would love to be friends of The Nerds. Consider yourself lucky. We're more intimidating than the name implies."

"I see, thanks." Tadashi said, a faint blush on his cheeks, "I guess I am lucky."

Suddenly, Baymax spoke up, "Tadashi. I am picking up that your heart rate is up and that you are perspiring a little more than usual. Blood is also flowing to your face at higher rates, and this could cause dizziness. To counteract this, you should lie down or--"

The blush on the boy's face exploded, "Baymax! No, Baymax--"

The robot continued, "This could also be a side effect of a fever or from seeing someone you are attract--"

"I am satisfied with my care!" Tadashi said quickly and the robot shut off. Hiro blinked.

"Sorry, uh, still got some bugs to fix," Tadashi said quietly, looking to the side from under his baseball hat. Hiro just laughed and gave the boy a knowing look.

"Sure, _bugs_." Hiro smiled and spun around on the heel of his sneakers as he started walking away. He turned his head back around, "maybe we'll see each other again, Tadashi."

He saw the other boy nod and raise his hand in a goodbye wave. Then Hiro had to turn around because he wasn't sure if he'd ever gather the strength to leave if he stayed. He was starting to like Tadashi too much. Like a _complete stranger_ too much.

"Until then, Hiro." Tadashi called and Hiro's heart flew again. He turned his head back around and waved before slipping into an alleyway. His heart was pounding and his cheeks were hot and cold at the same time. He swallowed. This was bad. Hiro's shoes trailed on the streets and suddenly he was filled with happiness. It caught him off-guard, like a punch in the face.

He smiled in the darkness.

"Tadashi," he said quietly, the warmth in his chest spreading. Maybe he'd see him again. Secretly, Hiro hoped so.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _From the same source I have not taken_  
>  _My sorrow; I could not awaken_  
>  _My heart to joy at the same tone;_  
>  _And all I loved, I loved alone._  
>  -Edgar Allen Poe

* * *

Naturally, Go Go had been furious.

Hiro had predicted this though and so it wasn't really a surprise when he was grounded. Again. He was pretty sure he was always either grounded or just over being grounded. Being grounded meant no bot battles for three days, so that did kind of put a damper on Hiro's mood. Not as much as one would think though. For some reason, he was in a really good mood. Hell, he even knew the reason why.

Too bad The Reason hadn't showed up again yet.

Despite being grounded, Hiro still went to the bot battles to see if Tadashi ever showed up. It'd been a couple of days since their first meeting and Hiro was feeling a little stupid for looking so hard for the other boy. He scanned the crowd for any baseball hats. None.

He watched a battle end and then started to push his way through the crowd to leave.

Suddenly, a guy dressed in black with a mask stepped through the crowd, the people parting to let the person pass. Hiro's breath caught. Shit, it was Mysterious Guy. You know, the guy that was supposedly really, really strong? Yeah, that guy. Hiro had actually never seen him in person but he'd heard stories about him.

The people in line scattered at the sight of the man and the bids were being pulled and dished in at an extremely fast rate. Someone got the courage to go onto the stage against the Mysterious Guy and they put their robot into the ring. Hiro pushed and ducked his way up to the front of the crowd, watching as Mysterious Guy threw in an orb-shaped robot.

The referee stepped in and yelled, "fight!"

Mysterious Guy's robot expanded to reveal two compartments that looked like...portals? Hiro got closer to the stage, trying to get a better look at the blue spheres. _Holy shit, portals,_ Hiro thought excitedly. The robots started into action, Mysterious Guy's bot flicked on and suddenly the other person's robot was being sucked in. From where he was standing, Hiro felt a little bit of the pull.

The person's robot struggled against the portal for a few seconds before it was pulled into the blue void. _That was quick,_ Hiro thought, a little more nervous then he'd like to admit. Where had the robot been sent to? Was it just...gone?

Hiro snapped out of his thinking when he realized that the Mysterious Guy was suddenly in front of him. The mask was looking down at him and Hiro jerked back, trying to look like he hadn't just been spacing out.

"You're the leader of The Nerds, correct?" guy said in a muffled, low voice. Oh shit, Hiro got ready for a fight. Hiro didn't think he'd stand a chance in a physical brawl with this guy. Hiro had never been the most muscular person, but he'd definitely try. Or maybe the guy would challenge him to a bot battle. Either way, Hiro was nervous as he tried to look defiantly at the mask.

All of Hiro's thoughts were stopped and flipped when instead of giving him threats or a punch in the face, the Mysterious Guy dropped a stack of bills into Hiro's hands. Hiro blinked in confusion, bills slipping through his fingers. He looked down and saw that they were all 20 dollar bills. Holy shit, this was a lot of money.

"What's this for?" Hiro demanded, looking at the bills in confusion. The Mysterious Guy stood up, brushing his hands.

"I admire your work. Consider it a donation," The masked guy said. Hiro frowned.

"We don't need donations." Hiro said stubbornly, getting ready to give the money back.

The masked guy seemed to know that though because he turned around with a slight wave, "too bad." The guy jumped from the platform.

Hiro ran to follow him but before he even got to the edge of the ring he saw Mysterious Guy jump onto a black motorbike and speed away from the ring. Hiro was flabbergasted. What the fuck had just happened? He stood at the edge of the battle ring, hands full of money. It occurred to him that if the cops showed up he'd look pretty suspicious so he stuffed the money with some difficulty into his pockets and looked around.

The crowd was still looking at him, probably as confused as he was. Hiro hoped Yama's gang wouldn't show up. Where was Yama anyway? Oh well, lucky him. Slowly, the crowd started to walk away. Hiro slipped into a side alley and made his way to The Nerd's hideout. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure that nobody was following him then jumped the fence of an abandoned factory and punched his password into the door.

Password: 01101110 01100101 01110010 01100100 01110011

The door clicked open and Hiro walked in, bills falling from his pockets. Jeez, he felt like he'd just robbed a bank or something.

The Nerd hideout pretty much just looked like a very stuffed warehouse. There were screws and screwdrivers scattered on the floor. Nails were bashed into tables. Masking tape hung off the walls and sheets of metal were staked on the floor. There were also drone robots and cameras on the ceiling, for safety, of course. Hiro looked around but didn't see any of the other members. They were probably still out fighting.

Hiro walked over to a table and set all the money down and _dang_ , that was a lot of money. _Probably enough to rent an apartment,_ Hiro thought. But that was selfish. This money belonged to the whole group. Suddenly, he felt someone bowl into him from behind.

"Hiro!!" Honey Lemon yelled as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She looked onto the table and her mouth dropped. "Woah, where did you get all of this?" She whispered.

Hiro turned around to face her, hands in his pockets, "I didn't go bot fighting! Uhm, Mystery Guy just...gave it to me. I know that sounds really weird--it is--but he literally just walked up and gave me a couple fistfuls of cash."

Honey Lemon was still staring, "wow, that's great! Think of all the upgrades we can build onto the robots. We have to tell Go Go! She's upstairs, one sec."

Upstairs? Hiro was going to ask but then he looked at Honey Lemon and oh...he was pretty sure that she was wearing Go Go's shirt. He made a mental note not to fall asleep on the upstairs couch anytime soon. A minute and a half later, Go Go was downstairs and smiling over the cash.

"Nice going Hiro," Go Go gave him a high five, "are you sure you don't want to use some of this to get an apartment or something though?"

Hiro shook his head, "nah, this is for the group. Besides, I can sleep in the hideout when I can't get a hotel."

"We should probably think about installing a shower here then," Go Go snickered and Hiro scowled. "I don't smell! ...do I?" he sniffed his sweatshirt and wasn't really sure. Whatever.

"Anyway, tell Fred and Wasabi when they get back, yeah?"

"'Kay!" Honey Lemon said cheerily, hand slipping into Go Go's as they started discussing exactly how fast a piece of steel has to be turning to slice through metal. Gee, those two were such nerds. Hiro smiled.

Hiro was about to get working on optimizing Megabot when there was a commotion at the entrance to the hideout. He looked over and his heart felt like it'd dropped. Metaphorically it was pumping blood on the floor. He forgot and remembered how to breathe during the course of ten seconds. Tadashi was standing in the door...in-between Wasabi and Fred.

"Hey boss, we found someone." Fred called and Hiro cursed to himself. Shit, he hadn't had time to tell Wasabi and Fred about Tadashi. Really, what would he have told them though? Something like, 'hey, I met this cute boy and decided to make him a friend of our group so please be nice to him?' Well, maybe. Whatever. Hiro jumped over an iron railing and walked over to the entrance.

"Hiro, we found this guy getting picked on by Yama's gang. He said he knew you so we rescued him and decided to take him here. He's got a few cuts and bruises...we asked if he wanted to go to the hospital but he just wanted to come here so...uh, hope that was okay." Wasabi said and Hiro panicked a little half way through that because holy shit, Tadashi did have cuts and bruises. Hiro wanted to yell. Instead he kept a tight clutch on his composure, barely.

"Thanks Fred, Wasabi. This is Tadashi, I met him while bot fighting. Thanks for helping him."

Fred and Wasabi looked Tadashi over, obviously impressed, because Hiro only dealt with people of a certain caliber. "Cool, nice to meet you and all but you should probably lie down, dude. We'll go get you some band-aids and stuff." Wasabi said worriedly and went to get some water. Fred went looking for band-aids and wraps. Hiro didn't know if he should be more worried or angry. He knew that Tadashi shouldn't have come around here. _Stupid_ , he chided himself.

"It's fine, really," Tadashi said, obviously a little embarrassed. Hiro caught a glimpse of a particularly long cut on Tadashi's cheek and no, it was not fine. None of the boy's injuries were particularly serious but that didn't mean that they couldn't have been. Hiro had been a first-hand witness to what Yama's thugs could do. He had to make sure that Tadashi didn't get hurt again. Hro put on his most serious face and proceeded to push Tadashi into the wall.

"Wha--" Tadashi started, confused and a little flustered as the back of his head met the metal boards. Hiro planted his hands next to Tadashi's face, making sure the other boy was paying attention. He definitely was.

"You could have gotten seriously hurt, you know that, right. What gave you the grand idea to just waltz through thug-filled streets, completely defenseless? You're smart, Tadashi. That was stupid. You're lucky Fred and Wasabi happened to be on patrol."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just...I just wanted to see you again." Tadashi said quietly, looking away from Hiro's face to his red sneakers.

Hiro stopped, looking at Tadashi. Oh god, we kind of wished he hadn't. His face was so close. It didn't matter, he needed answers. Really though, he was extremely happy to see Tadashi again. He almost stuttered over his words.

"Does anything really hurt? We can still bring you to the hospital. It's a pretty standard destination for our group." Hiro said, he hands easing away from Tadashi.

"No, it's fine. Just a few scratches. Uhm," Tadashi adjusted his baseball hat, "thanks. For uhm, worrying."

Hiro blushed, running a hand through his hair to hide his face. Gods, this boy was so _sappy_. 

"So why didn't you bring Baymax today?"

Tadashi looked a little surprised, like he hadn't noticed, "oh. Well I had something before this so I couldn't bring Baymax. He's kind of too big."

That made sense. Hiro nodded then decided to show Tadashi around because, hell, the boy would probably be coming around here a lot anyway. "Okay, well let me show you around The Nerd hideout."

Tadashi smiled and followed behind Hiro. They walked into the main area and oh, right. The money. Tadashi looked over at it, raising and eyebrow and Hiro hastily explained.

"Uh, we got that donated. Kind of, well. It's a little complicated but the point is that we didn't steal it or anything."

Tadashi laughed as Hiro stood next to him embarrassedly. He was going to explain the situation in greater detail when--

"Oh hey! You're the boy Hiro was talking about aren't you," Go Go said casually as she walked up behind them and draped her arms around their shoulders. "So you're some kind of genius, huh?"

Tadashi raised his hands in denial, "me? No, uhm, I just like robots."

"Oh can it, nerd." Go Go said with a smirk, "I'm interested in your work. If Hiro liked it then it must be really good. Can't wait." She gave Tadashi a pat on the back and then skated off to help Honey Lemon with an unstable chemical solution for a instantly metal-rusting offensive spray. Seconds later there was a loud explosion and Hiro grinned as both of the girls coughed and rushed to open some windows.

Wasabi and Fred came running down with the bandages and band-aids.

"Sorry for the wait, dudes. The ones in the bathroom were empty so we had to sort through the storage supplies. Here ya go, man," Fred said as he stuck some band-aids on Tadashi's face. The boy smiled and winced a little but soon all of the medical plasters were on his face and hey, it looked a little better...kind of.

Hiro smiled at Tadashi fondly and then took his arm because he couldn't wait to show him the AI room. They'd installed a small room filled with self-constructed, high-functioning computers. They used these to program and code artificial intelligence into their robots. It was as good as any government funded computer central and worked better for robots because they'd customized it to fit building needs. There were six large monitors and multiple processors.

Tadashi's eyes widened as he stepped into the room, his mouth falling into an 'o' shape. He looked at the room and then at Hiro in astonished surprise, "you guys. You guys set these up?"

Now it was Hiro's turn to be proud, "yeah, these run multiple computer systems and are fully customizable. The source code can be changed at any time."

Tadashi walked over to one of the computers and ran his fingers across the keys, looking at the code on the screen.

"Can I?" he asked and Hiro nodded-- _hell yeah he could-_ -going up to stand next to him. Tadashi's hands went across the computer keys quickly and arg, it was so attractive how Tadashi already knew how to code in C and C++. Dang, was it getting hot in here? Hiro hoped it was psychological warmth because he really didn't want the computers to overheat again. That was a pain last time.

"So, like it?" Hiro asked and Tadashi nodded enthusiastically, already having changed the basic design of the code to fit a more effective design. _Hot_ , Hiro thought again.

"Good. That one can be yours then," Hiro said.

Tadashi looked at him, confused, "My what?"

"Your computer, silly," Hiro said, playing with a sticky note on the side of his computer. He glanced up at Tadashi, "this is kind of sudden, I realize. And this is totally up to if you want to or not but uhm--"

Hiro took a breath, "do you want to join The Nerds?"

There was silence. Hiro held his breath as he watched a series of emotions flit across Tadashi's face. He couldn't name or place all of them but he thought that they looked good. A wide smile made it's way across Tadashi's face and ohh, Hiro's heart felt like it was burning.

"Yeah, of course, wow! I'd love to join you guys," Tadashi said enthusiastically, his arms coming up like he wanted to hug Hiro and then, oh, they did hug him. Hiro blushed into the hug and then Tadashi pulled away. They stared at each other and then similar smiles curled onto their faces.

"About non-breakable vinyl--" Tadashi started.

Hiro sat down in one of the rolling chairs, pulling up a formula for tougher, elastic vinyl. This stuff wouldn't break if acid melted over it.

"Already on it."

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Then- in my childhood, in the dawn_  
>  _Of a most stormy life- was drawn_  
>  _From every depth of good and ill_  
>  _The mystery which binds me still_  
>  -Edgar Allen Poe

* * *

After a few weeks, Tadashi had already found his place with The Nerds. He was a really likable guy so it really wasn't too shocking. Yeah, he was a bit mothering at times like "are you guys sure you should be mixing those together? Wear goggles please." or "Wasabi! Don't forget to turn your lasers off!" but the gang needed that anyway. Really though, he helped them create durable, highly intelligent robots that hell, even SFIT would be hard-pressed to create and fund.

Speaking of funding, Hiro still had no idea why Mystery Guy had given him all of that money. To start with, The Nerds and that guy were supposed to be enemies. Rivals. Sworn antagonists. Hiro flicked a gummy bear across the lab, seeing how far it went until it lost velocity and plummeted back to the ground. Not very far.

"Why," Hiro muttered, flicking more candies into the air. It didn't make any sense. Was Mystery Guy up to something? Was he expecting something in return? Hiro didn't trust a pile of money thrown at him with no strings attached at all. Tadashi walked down the stairs and smiled when he saw him.

"Whoa there, what is this? The candy execution ring?" Tadashi laughed tiredly as he ran his fingers through his hair. Oh, he didn't have his baseball hat on, Hiro noted. Tadashi and Hiro had been up late studying AI decision-making algorithms and they'd both blacked out on the couch at around 3 AM. That technically counted as a sleepover, right? Hiro smiled a bit through his concentration.

"No, well, I guess maybe it is." Hiro said before he frowned again, "I'm just thinking about Mystery Guy again. What motive would he have behind giving us all that money."

Tadashi made a thoughtful face then shrugged, "well, what if there isn't any motive."

"There's always a motive," Hiro said, lips quirking up at the detective reference, "you may be too naive to understand this Tadashi, but most people aren't nice and helpful and loyal and all-around good like you are."

Tadashi opened his mouth, closed it, and then just gave Hiro a half-glare, half-smile look that was both 'I know you're wrong but I don't want to argue with you' and 'you're a dork and I care for you even though you're stupid sometimes.'

Hiro loved--no wait that was a strong word--Hiro liked him for it. Liked him a _lot_.

But frankly, all that was beside the point. The point being Mystery Guy. He'd have to track him down and ask him, wouldn't he? Hiro really didn't like looking for people. But it couldn't be helped. "Hey Tadashi, I'm going out for a bit. Make sure the computers don't overheat."

Tadashi gave him a concerned look, "you're going after Mystery Guy aren't you. It's dangerous, Hiro. We don't know anything about him."

"You worry too much," Hiro said, getting out of his chair and looking for his shoes.

Tadashi shook his head and followed Hiro to the door, "I just worry about you because you have all of these risky ideas! What if you get hurt? I won't be there."

"No offense, but you're kind of like Baymax. I'm not sure how good you'd be in a fight." Ouch, okay that had been kind of mean. But hey, anything to keep Tadashi out of trouble on the streets, right? Whatever. It wasn't worth the hurt look like other boy gave him.

"I'd do anything I could to protect you and you know that." Tadashi said seriously.

Hiro felt his heart beat fast at those words-- _this isn't a romance movie, Hiro!_ \--and he stepped into his shoes as he pulled on a hoodie. He was about to make his way out the door when Tadashi's hand caught his wrist and Hiro turned around, his cheeks going red.

"Just be careful, okay? Say okay, Hiro."

Hiro just nodded because he couldn't say anything at first. Then he cleared his throat and said, "yeah...okay." Jeez, what an overprotective, cute, amazing, jerk. Hah, as if Tadashi could be a jerk if he tried. Tadashi let go of Hiro's wrist and Hiro almost wished he hadn't. _Arg_. He waved and then slipped out of the hideout.

He walked through the thin alleyways and thought about where the hell he would find a guy with 'mystery' as his first name. Where did mysterious people even go? Hiro frowned. _Might as well check out the bot battles_ , he thought. Yama's group didn't even seem to be out today. Dang, maybe he could have brought Tadashi with him...on like a date or something. Well, he wouldn't have called it a date but it would've been kind of like a date. Or something. Hiro smiled at the thought. Well, too late now.

He looked at the two competitors in the ring. Nope, they weren't Mystery Guy. The battle ended and the referee called for competitors. _Well, might as well play_ , Hiro thought. He won some battles, got some cash. Easy. He didn't really think much of it until he started to walk away and oh...there were some of the rich kids following him. He wasn't really worried though because they were usually pretty easy to shake off. Not these apparently. Hiro slipped his way through alleys and through crowds of drug dealers and _god, why were they still following him_? How were they even keeping up?

Hiro ducked into an alley to the right and shit. It was a dead end. Of fucking course. He was extremely grateful that he hadn't brought Tadashi with him because oh god he was about to get beat up by some snotty rich kids and that sure as hell wasn't attractive. Hiro rested his back against the stone wall and awaited his fate. Three of the rich kids started smirking at him as they stepped closer, hands in fists. Ow, this was going to hurt. The first one punched him in the face and _fuck_ , he tasted blood.

"Not so tough now, huh." One of the kids smiled at him and Hiro glared then spit at him. Defiant until the end, that was his way.

"You little shit!" the guy yelled and brought his fist down again.

The other guys started to get closer but before the first guy could do anything else, there was the not-so-faint sound of a motorcycle engine. Now, Hiro didn't believe in fate or luck or any of those unproven myths that many people seemed to invest in. But if he did, Hiro would consider himself very, very lucky.

A black hover-wheel V500 motorcycle pulled up at the entrance to the alley, its engine loud and raring. On it was the similarly intimidating figure of Mystery Guy. Holy shit, Hiro had just been found by the guy he'd been looking for. Mystery Guy jumped off his motorcycle with practiced ease and stepped towards them.

"Shit." One of the rich kids said and he let go of Hiro's sweater. Hiro wondered if maybe he should just invest in a black coat and mask if that's all it took to intimidate people. Mystery Guy walked up to the closest bully and  threw him onto the stone road. _Ouch_ , Hiro winced despite himself.

"Get out of here. All of you." The Mystery Guy said in a stomach-dropping voice. The bullies started to disband with caution but the cloaked guy seemed to run out of patience because he shouted, "Now!" and all of the rich kids took off running. Hiro wasn't sure if he was supposed to get out too so he just kind of stood silently by the wall, brushing off his arms. When all of the other kids were gone, he looked up from behind his bangs at Mystery Guy.

"Uh, thanks for that." Hiro said kind of lamely when the other guy didn't initiate the conversation. Mystery guy just nodded and then started walking back to his motorcycle. _Oh no you don't,_ Hiro thought. He tried to walk but shit, it looked like his ankle was sprained. It hurt like hell. One of those stupid kids must have stepped on his foot, hard.

"Wait!" he shouted and Mystery Guy turned around. Hiro caught his breath, "why did you give me that money? I don't like being in debt to people. Especially to people I know nothing about."

Mystery Guy waved a hand and he swung onto his motorcycle, "consider the debt payed off."

That sounded almost more intimidating. What had payed the debt off? Hiro bit his lip as there was another flash of pain from his ankle.

"By what?" he asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Mystery Guy didn't say anything. Hiro frowned and started limping his way to the guy against the wall. He saw Mystery Guy sigh and then get off his motorcycle, walking over to him.

"You're really stubborn, kid." The muffled voice said and Hiro laughed even though he felt like he was going to pass out. Damn, he hoped he didn't have a concussion from that punch to his head.

"Just tell me what I can do in return for the money," Hiro said, "as I said before. I don't take donations."

"Then it was a gift."

"I also don't take those," Hiro said through gritted teeth. Dang, he really didn't want to pass out now. Not in front of this guy.

Mystery Guy nodded. "Then consider it a love letter."

Now that stopped Hiro in his tracks. He looked at the mask of the Mystery Guy and his mouth fell open. Oh. Wait, what? A love letter? That didn't even really make sense. The money hadn't even been in a letter. Wait, that was beside the point. What if the guy thought he was a--

"I'm not a prostitute." Hiro said adamantly, just in case the guy had gotten the wrong idea. Mystery Guy was silent for a second and then started laughing. It was a light, full laugh even through the mask. After a few seconds the guy's laughing slowed down and he was able to speak again.

"Yeah, I know." Mystery Guy said and shook his head fondly. Hiro blushed and oops, no that just caused more blood to rush to his head. Geez, he didn't really even know how to handle this. He tried to clear his mind of the constant ringing of 'pain, pain, pain.'

"Uhm, you might want the money back then. I kind of already like someone."

Mystery Guy was silent for a few seconds and then he shook his head, "no, it's fine."

Hiro blinked fuzzily as his vision started blurring over. Aw crap. He was pretty sure he blacked out for a second. When his vision came back, Mystery Guy was supporting him on his shoulder and they were walking to his motorcycle. Hiro wondered if he should be worried. Nah, from what he'd seen, Mystery Guy was an okay dude. Mystery guy helped Hiro onto the motorcycle and Hiro found himself in-between Mystery Guy's legs, his back pressed against the guy's chest. Stupid teen hormones were giving him the entirely wrong idea. So what if the guy was cool, dark, and mysterious? Oh, and he also owned a motorcycle. Dang it.

"Where should I drop you off? Hospital?" Mystery Guy asked and Hiro tried to think. He reached up his hand to his head and realized that it was bleeding. He was probably just dizzy from blood loss. He just had to get back to the hideout and eat some vitamins or something. Baymax would know what to do, at least. 

"Just blood loss. No need to go to the hospital," he said thoughtfully, trying to put the words together despite the pounding in his head, "just drop me off at the battle arena, please."

Mystery Guy hesitated for a second, like he thought that Hiro should go to the hospital, but then kicked up the motorcycle stand and the engine whirled to life under them. The bike was surprisingly fast and dang, if Hiro hadn't been hurt, he would've been afraid of getting hurt at the speed they were going. But Mystery Guy seemed to have a pretty good grip on how to dodge people and cars and swerve corners. It was pretty awesome, Hiro had to admit.

Too soon, they arrived at the arena and Hiro slipped off the bike, the whiplash of standing causing another wave of confusion and dizziness. He suppressed it though. He couldn't let Mystery Guy think he was a wimp.

"Thanks again," Hiro said and Mystery guy just nodded.

"You sure I can't drop you off somewhere else?" The guy asked.

"I'm fine" Hiro said, leaving no room for debate.

The guy shrugged and then kicked the stand back up on his motorcycle and sped off into the crowd. Damn, he was so cool. That just wasn't fair. Hiro sighed and steeled himself for the walk to The Nerd hideout. He limped along the alleyways, his nails scraping against the stone and his foot shooting sparks of pain through him every time he stepped down. Fuck. He saw the blood from his head drip onto the ground underneath him and felt it run down the side of his face. By the time he saw the hideout he was barely keeping himself upright. _Dang, that rich kid really knew how to throw a good punch_ , Hiro thought. He reached the door and he tried to punch in the code but his hand was shaking too much. _Come on, keep still, keep still,_ he thought in frustration.

The world slid again and oh god, he was going to pass out again. Hiro blinked, the world doubling and merging before his eyes. The last thing he saw before he passed out was Tadashi's blurry, worried face. When had he gotten there? Hiro tried to ask but for some reason his mouth wouldn't open. His eyes closed again, everything hurting. He heard Baymax say, "Extensive blood loss can lead to loss of consciousness and possibly death. Apply a bandage and light pressure to the area to alleviate the blood flow."

_Hey, it works,_ Hiro thought. Tadashi and Hiro had been working on Baymax's medical database and scanning sensors for a while. It was nice that they actually worked...

Then he passed out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I've gotten some interesting guesses about who Mystery Guy is, see if your guess is right! Also, this chapter is a bit fast, but that's because it all happens really quickly. Don't worry, the aftermath (and imminent romance) is coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _From the torrent, or the fountain,_  
>  _From the red cliff of the mountain,_  
>  _From the sun that round me rolled_  
>  -Edgar Allen Poe

* * *

  
Three hours later, Hiro woke up on a couch with a really, really bad headache. It was near-crippling, but he'd had worse. He was actually pretty happy with the amount of injuries he'd received. He hadn't even required hospitalization. That was a definite win in Hiro's book.

Unfortunately, the boy pacing in front of the couch didn't look like he shared Hiro's sentiment. Tadashi actually looked angrier than Hiro ever remembered seeing him and it was a little intimidating. Hiro was going to pretend to be asleep just not to have the conversation (and probable argument) that was going to follow when he woke up when Tadashi turned around and saw that he was awake. Damn, so close. Tadashi nearly slipped as he turned around and walked over to Hiro.

"Are you thirsty? Do you need something to eat? Are you lightheaded?"

Hiro blinked, mind still playing catch-up, "uh, no. Not really."

Tadashi nodded in relief, "okay, okay, good." Then suddenly the other boy looked mad again, "oh, so when I say 'Hiro promise me to be careful' you take that as 'oh let's go out and break my head and mess up my ankle.' Let's not forget that I specifically told you that it was dangerous but no, of course you didn't listen. You said, 'Tadashi, you worry too much' but now look!"

Hiro felt a little guilty, yeah. He'd have to be more careful with the obvious injuries from now on. He didn't want Tadashi to worry about him. Hiro looked at his foot and realized that it had been bandaged. Hiro also noticed that he had a different shirt on. Blood had probably dripped onto his other one, but the point was that Tadashi had _taken off_ his shirt. Hiro blushed and tried to shove that particular insight to the back of his mind. Oh, nope, it wasn't going away. Whatever, he let it linger there for a while.

Tadashi sighed and gave him another look.

"Sorry, it's not like I meant to get hurt. Also, Mystery Guy was actually the one who saved me so I guess I was just being careful of the wrong person." Hiro said as sat up, despite his head's protests, and tried to think.

Something about all this was bugging him. He felt like he was missing something.

"Okay, but if Mystery Guy's good...then what's he doing with those portals?" Hiro frowned. Obviously something was wrong. "Also, how did he seem to know exactly where I was? That couldn't have been coincidence. There's no way he would have just been passing by either. Well, there is a way but it would be a very slim ratio, so basically impossible. No, we have to assume that he knew where I was."

Hiro tapped his finger on the couch while Tadashi watched him, a faint line of concern still written across his face. "You really should be lying down," Tadashi said, more to himself then Hiro. When Hiro didn't answer Tadashi sighed and then sat down on the couch next to him.

"Okay, so somehow he knows where you are. How could he know that?" Tadashi said, giving in and helping Hiro with his train of thought. Hiro nodded, thinking.

"Give me one of my sweatshirts," Hiro said, pointing to the one he'd had on earlier that day. Tadashi gave him an odd look but then stood up and picked up the piece of clothing from the ground. Hiro felt the material in his hands and ran his fingers over the seams of the sewing. Nothing too suspicious...until he reached the collar of the shirt. Inside the lining of the cloth was a tiny microchip, about the size of a nail.

He knew it. 

"Gotcha," Hiro whispered excitedly, carefully picking the chip up and rushing it over to a microscope. He set the microchip under the lens and zoomed in. On the chip was a logo of a bird of some kind. Hiro frowned and zoomed in more, trying to get it to be less blurry.

"Hey Tadashi, look at this," Hiro said and Tadashi walked over, peering into the eyepiece. "Have you ever seen that logo before?"

Tadashi shook his head, quickly stepping away from the microscope, "no"

Hm, okay. So it wasn't from one of the famous robot-building companies.

Hiro sat back in his rolling chair and steepled his fingers in thought, "how did someone get a microchip into my clothes? How..." Hiro's brows furrowed. Wait. The only people who had access to his clothes were people who knew where The Nerd hideout was and knew the password to get in. That restricted the number of people to the people in his group. But that couldn't be right. But what if--

"Hiro! We have a problem!" Go Go ran in, followed by Honey Lemon and Wasabi. Hiro snapped out of his thinking and looked at them, "what's wrong?"

"Portals!! Someone is using huge portals to destroy buildings! Hiro, we have to stop them." Honey Lemon said quickly as she tugged on his sleeve. But Hiro's mind kept spinning. Portals...Mystery Guy had used portals. Maybe the robot battles had just been tests for this bigger project.

Test runs. Who else did he know that liked to use robot battles as test runs? Hiro looked behind him at Tadashi, his eyes widening with realization. Hiro grabbed onto Tadashi's jacket but it was too late.

"Shit, he's using it too soon," Tadashi cursed, then he jumped over the railing and ran out the door. The rest of the gang stood in silence for a few seconds, trying to process what had just happened. Then it hit home. Oh. He felt sick.

Hiro groaned, "Dammit! I knew that something was wrong. He was too...nice or something!! Arg, how could I have been so stupid!?"

"Hiro, can you please tell us what's going on? Why did Tadashi just run out of here?"

Hiro buried his face in his hands, "I don't know. All I know is that he has something to do with all of this. He was the one that sewed microchips with GPS trackers in my sweaters. It had to be him. Mystery guy used those to find me. Mystery Guy is also the guy who has been using a portal bots in bot fights. All of that probably has something to do with the building-destroying portals."

The rest of The Nerds stared at him. "So, you're saying that Tadashi might be...a bad guy?"

Hiro bit his lip, trying to keep back the tears that he knew were just seconds away. How could Tadashi have lied to him? They were best friends. Yet...Hiro didn't really know anything about him. Shit, he shouldn't have let his guard down so soon. He shouldn't have. Somehow Hiro's mind just couldn't label Tadashi as a bad guy. Still couldn't. But when he tried to think of some way that Tadashi wasn't guilty he came up with nothing. He sighed, fingers curling into fists.

"Alright, let's go find him and make him tell us what's going on," Hiro said, voice cold. The rest of The Nerds looked worried. "How are we supposed to find him? He just ran out," Go Go said, irritation lining her voice. Hiro knew how much she hated it when people lied to her.

A wry smile made its way across Hiro's face. "Baymax scanned him. We can find him."

He looked at the bot in its charging station. It was ironic how Tadashi's own robot would track him down for them. "Baymax, ow." Hiro said and the robot awoke, inflating. Ugh, his heart hurt.

"Hiro. I am sensing that your happiness levels are lower than your calculated average. Is something wrong?"

 _Yes, something is very wrong_ , Hiro wanted to say but didn't. "Baymax, scan the city for Tadashi."

Baymax was silent for a few seconds. "Patient Tadashi seems to be in critical condition. He requires immediate attention. My scanners read sign of physical trauma."

Hiro's eyes widened in shock and dread, "What? No, that can't be. He was just here, he was fine."

"Patient Tadashi is in critical condition. He requires immediate attention." Baymax repeated and that was enough to get Hiro into action. Hiro really hoped that the new wings they'd installed on Baymax worked. They hadn't really had a chance to test them out yet. He also didn't have time to put on all the gear so he just climbed onto Baymax's back and hung on.

"Baymax, fly to where Tadashi is."

"Hiro! What should we do?" Honey Lemon called up to him as Baymax's jets started in a flame of blue.

"Stop the portal!" Hiro yelled and then Baymax took off, gliding through a broken window as they soared into the sky. Hiro felt the wind blow back his bangs and the cold breeze sweep across his arms. He looked down at the small buildings and skyscrapers underneath them. In the distance he could see a large, blue void of sorts. _That must be the portal,_ Hiro thought as he squinted at it. Suddenly, Baymax plummeted down.

"Patient Tadashi has been located. Search complete. Phase two initiated. Extraction in process." Baymax said and Hiro had to shut his eyes against the gusts of wind. Baymax landed in what looked like an abandoned factory and Hiro slid off his back. He looked around hastily, walking through the opened doors. The factory was deserted except for some large computers and switchboards. Hiro scanned over them briefly as he looked for Tadashi. On the counter of a desk was a picture. It was a picture of Tadashi and some older guy with grey hair and light stubble. Underneath the picture was a plaque that said 'Professor Robert Callaghan and his adopted son Tadashi Callaghan.'

Hiro frowned, wondering why a picture like this was in an abandoned factory.  
  
"I am picking up that Tadashi is behind this door," Baymax said, standing in front of a steel door and Hiro ran over to him, dropping the photograph. He looked for a doorknob but there didn't seem to be one.

"Baymax, knock it down." Hiro said, remembering the battle systems he'd installed onto Baymax's card. Baymax nodded and then punched the door in with a large fist. The door clattered to the ground. A cloud of dust arose from the room and Hiro walked through it. It seemed to be the central of the building and it had multiple computer screens, all of which printed 'ERROR' over and over again. Sagged against one of the switchboards was Mystery Guy, his arm hanging from one of the keyboards. Hiro's heart caught in his throat as he kneeled next to him. He knew it. Baymax scanned him again.

"Scan complete. Patient Tadashi has two broken ribs. No punctured organs. Bruises on his back and sides. He also has two broken fingers. I am unable to get a clear reading on his mental state, which could imply a concussion or traumatic event."

Mystery Guy was Tadashi.

Hiro took off the mask covering his friend's face. Hiro breathed shallowly, his fingers curling over Tadashi's cheeks. Suddenly, he didn't know what to do. Should he take Tadashi to the hospital? That's what he was supposed to do, right? he felt Tadashi's pulse under his fingers, soft but consistent. Tadashi was alive. Hiro let out a relived sob as he wrapped his arms around his friend.

He felt Tadashi stir in his arms, waking up. Tadashi coughed as his eyes blinked open, wincing at the pain in his chest. "Hiro?" he asked quietly, not quite awake. Hiro pulled back, failing to hide the tears slipping down his cheeks. He couldn't dislike Tadashi, even after all of this.

"What did you do, you idiot?" Hiro said shakily, fondly, "Don't answer that. Your ribs are pretty messed up. Just nod yes or no to my questions."

Tadashi hesitantly nodded, his eyes bruised but god, still so wonderful when they met Hiro's.

"Okay, so this Callaghan guy is your adoptive father, right?" Tadashi nodded "And he's behind the portal?" Tadashi paused for a second and then nodded "You were testing out portals in your battles as Mystery Guy, weren't you? You were working for your father?" Tadashi lowered his eyes and nodded again. God. Hiro's heart gave a painful squeeze.

Hiro took a deep breath, "is he the one that did this to you?"

Tadashi didn't nod but he didn't need to. Hiro knew. Hiro knew and he was angry. He was angry as hell.

 

"Baymax, take Tadashi to the hospital. I'm going to stop the portal."

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _In its autumn tint of gold—_  
>  _From the lightning in the sky_  
>  _As it pass’d me flying by—_  
>  -Edgar Allen Poe

* * *

Tadashi woke up to the sound of a heart monitor.

His eyes opened and he stared at the white ceiling. The room smelled like disinfectant and cough syrup. He tried to move his hand but couldn't. _Crap_ , Tadashi thought and tried to sit up. He also couldn't do that. Oh god, he hated hospitals so much. Flashbacks from the last time he was in a hospital came back to him. It was the day his parents had died in a car crash. _Oh no oh no_. He was about to freak out when Baymax walked into his line of vision.

"Tadashi, you are in the Hospital. You have two broken ribs. No punctured organs. Bruises on your back and sides. You also have two broken fingers. You seem to be stressed."

"Baymax!" Tadashi said, a smile falling onto his face. The happy facade was so easy to slap on nowadays that it just seemed to flick on whenever he talked, regardless of who he was talking to. Even if he was talking to a robot. Baymax tilted his head.

"I am getting mixed readings. The chemicals in your brain are contradicting your facial expressions." Ugh, of course Baymax would be able to tell when he was faking. The smile fell of Tadashi's face like it'd been cracked. 

He looked down at the steril sheets, "I know. Uhm, Baymax, where's Hiro? How long have I been out?"

"Hiro left the hospital this morning. You've been here for three days."

Tadashi blanched, _three days!?_

He tried to think back to right before he'd passed out. Hiro had found him. That meant that he knew that Tadashi was actually 'Mystery Guy' or so The Nerds liked to refer to him. Guilt punched him in the gut again. He'd lied to Hiro. He'd lied about everything, hadn't he? He hadn't told Hiro about his other identity or warned him about what his father--Tadashi shuttered involuntarily, his bruises aching--had been planning. He felt tears build up, the shame too much to deal with.

"Why are you crying?" Baymax asked, his head tilting as he walked closer to the hospital bed. Tadashi shook his head, his hands covering his face.

"Everything hurts. It hurts," Tadashi said, his lip trembling. He'd hurt Hiro. He'd promised himself that he wouldn't do that. Couldn't he just protect one person? He hadn't been able to protect his mom or dad and now this. _I'm useless_ , Tadashi thought bitterly, nails sinking into his palm. Baymax's stomach lit up with a line of faces.

"On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

Tadashi frowned, shaking his head. He didn't know, he didn't know. "Ten."

"To improve your mental state, I am going to call your frie--"

"No! I am satisfied with my care!" Tadashi yelled hastily. He really didn't think he could face anyone from The Nerds. He probably wouldn't be able to face them ever again. His eyes blurred again at the thought. _You don't deserve them. You brought this on yourself_. Baymax shut off and Tadashi was left alone again.

"Idiot." Tadashi said quietly and then decided to get up. His chest was bound with bandages and some of his fingers still couldn't move. He wondered if it was safe to leave yet. He realized that he didn't actually care. He just needed to get out. He hated this place. Tadashi looked at the side table and faintly smiled when he saw that his baseball hat was there. Hiro must have put it there. Tadashi shook his head sadly as he picked it up and put it on. It didn't feel right.

Tadashi shakily stood up, testing if his body could support him. It could, kind of. His lungs burned and his legs and back ached but it didn't matter. He staggered over to the door, his good fingers curling around the doorknob. He went to twist it, but instead it went the other way and--oh.

Hiro opened the door, nearly colliding with Tadashi. They stood face-to-face, both of their eyes widening when they saw who the other was.

"You're awak--you're supposed to be in bed." Hiro said, and it was supposed to sound accusatory, but instead it came out quiet and surprised. Tadashi was awake! He was standing in front of him. Hiro wanted to smile but couldn't because Tadashi looked so...sad. No, it was more like he looked disappointed with himself. Hiro wanted to tell him that he knew everything and that it wasn't his fault. But first, he had to get Tadashi back into bed.

"I was just, uh, leaving." Tadashi said awkwardly. He couldn't even look at Hiro. 

Instead of letting him leave, Hiro took Tadashi's arm and slowly helped him over to the hospital bed. It felt like deja vu. Hiro remembered Tadashi helping him onto the couch after his run in with the rich kids. They had to sort this out. Also, leaving with the injuries that Tadashi was sporting would've just been stupid, not to mention insanely dangerous. Hiro wouldn't let his friend leave. 

"Tadashi, I know about your father. It was his idea, it wasn't your fault that you were forced into helping him create the portals. We got rid of them and Callaghan's in jail now...sorry about that by the way, I know that he was your adoptive father."

Tadashi soaked in the information, simultaneously extremely relived and worried sick at the same time. Callaghan deserved to be in jail, right? Tadashi was torn. _He's_ _still your father,_  his mind told him. There was so much that he wanted to ask but couldn't. He didn't know if he wanted to hear the answers.

"I have a question though," Hiro said, "why did Callaghan do it? Why did he make the portals?"

Tadashi sighed, heart sinking again. He didn't like this story. "His daughter, Abigail, died in a failed science experiment that was testing out human teleportation via portals. Callaghan was devastated and started planning his revenge against the company that killed her. He didn't know how to recreate the portal himself though...until he found me on the streets..."

Tadashi looked at his hands. He really hated his past. Hated the things he had done. "My parents had just died in a car crash and I was fighting in illegal bot fights to get money. All my relatives were dead, so I did a lot of bad things to get by, you know? Around that time, people started calling me 'Mystery Guy' because I always wore a motorcycle helmet."

Tadashi's mouth quirked a little at that, remembering the first time he'd heard The Nerds refer to him that way. He'd always liked their group. They were smart and powerful by their own right. He'd made sure not to battle them or take their money out of respect. Hiro stared at him, eyes large and round.

"Callaghan adopted me and in return I would help him create his portal. It was pretty easy but...I guess I wasn't thinking about all the damage it would cause. I don't know. It was stupid of me."

Hiro shook his head, "no, Tadashi. You were fifteen and didn't have a home. Anyone would have taken that deal. Hell, I would have taken it! Just...don't blame yourself for it."

"But I lied to you guys! I didn't tell you who I was and...and I betrayed your trust. I can't make that up."

Hiro scoffed and punched his arm playfully, "dude, you saved my life from those rich thugs, remember? You helped me with my science experiments! Hell, you sewed a tracker into my sweaters so that you could make sure that I didn't get hurt. You created a robot whose sole purpose is to help people. I think I can forgive you for helping your adoptive dad with his evil plans."

Tadashi looked up him. He looked like he didn't believe it, like he was skeptical. God, Hiro wanted to hug him. One other thing...

"Also, you tried to stop him in the end, didn't you? That's why he beat you up. Tadashi, you did the right thing. I'm proud of you, and I'm proud that you're my friend." Hiro said, placing his hand on Tadashi's shoulder. The other boy nodded and bit his lip as the tears started to come back, his hands brushing at his eyes to get rid of the tears. Hiro wrapped his arms around Tadashi's shoulders and patted him as he felt tears stain his shirt. Tadashi wrapped his arms around Hiro's waist and okay, _stop doing that, heart,_ Hiro thought. They sat like that until Tadashi stopped crying and pulled back with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Sorry, I got your shoulder kind of wet." Tadashi said and Hiro just shrugged. It was find. Everything was fine. Tadashi was back and Callaghan was in jail, where he belonged. Oh wait, Hiro frowned for a second. Where was Tadashi going to live after this? He didn't want Tadashi out on the streets by himself again.

"Hey, so, do you...uhm. Do you want to live with me after you get out of here?" Hiro asked, sure that a blush was spreading across his face. Tadashi gave him a confused look and Hiro rushed to elaborate, "I mean, at the moment I'm kind of hotel jumping but we could rent an apartment or something...and uhm, it would be cheaper if we lived together, you know? Haha, I mean it's cool if you don't want to I was just asking!"

Tadashi gave him an incredulous look, "How can you still trust me? I don't even trust me! I was Mystery Guy, remember? I sucked people's robots into portals. That was me."

Hiro nodded, "Yeah, but we've all done stuff that we don't like. You should hear about some of things I did. It's in the past. Also, I don't blame you for any of that. Oh, speaking of uhm, mystery guy. You gave me a love letter."

Tadashi felt whiplash from how fast he blushed. Shit. He'd forgotten about that.

Tadashi scrambled for some excuse for the love letter but couldn't find any. Arg, why did he have to call it a 'love letter' instead of just a 'letter' letter. His stupid heart was making things harder than they should be. He looked at his hands, not sure what to say. He couldn't just blurt out that he liked Hiro that way. Hiro would hate him, wouldn't he?

Hiro took a nervous breath. It was now or never.

"Can you look at me for a second," Hiro said quietly and Tadashi looked up at him, brown eyes meeting his. Oh god, Hiro wasn't sure if he could do this. No, he really wanted to. "You know how I told you that I already like someone?"

Tadashi nodded uncertainly, "yeah", a painful feeling tugging at his heart.

Hiro blushed to his ears as he looked to the side and then back up, playing with the blankets beween his fingers. "That person was you. Is you. I like you as a friend but also...I like you more than that. Like..." Hiro struggled for words to describe it as, "I want to hold hands and kiss you and that sort of thing. Wow, that sounded kind of weird, It's cool if you don't feel the same wa--"

"You like me. Like you _like like_ me." Tadashi said, entirely shocked. His mouth fell open in the characteristic 'o' shape and his blush went to his ears. Hiro couldn't help but smile at his face. 

"yeah, you dork. I like you. A lot." Hiro said, still a little nervous but determined not to show it. Tadashi looked surprised and then the expression slowly changed into a wide smile. Hiro wanted to cry. He hadn't seen Tadashi's smile in too long. Instead, his heart nearly went into over-drive when Tadashi moved his hand so that it was over his, his bandaged fingers slipping in-between his. Oh god, oh god. 

"Hiro, I'm sorry for lyin--"

"You're already forgiven. Trust me. I talked to the rest of the gang and none of us are mad at you. Tadashi, you're a really awesome friend and The Nerds need you. I mean, who else will protect us from lab spills and open lasers and, you know, evil portal-wielding felons?"

Tadashi blinked up at him. Hiro really wanted to kiss him then. Instead, he just wiped away a wet spot on Tadashi's cheek. Tadashi blushed again at the contact.

"So...we're uh..." Tadashi trailed off, his hand running through his bangs.

"I was thinking, uhm, Boyfriends?" Hiro smiled hopefully and Tadashi smiled back at him.

"Yeah, definitely," Tadashi said warmly, his palms pressing against Hiro's. "Also, we should room together."

Hiro nodded. "Definitely."

 


	6. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow! So this is the end guys! I cannot thank you guys enough for the amazing comments and likes and gee you guys warm my heart.
> 
> NOTE: Abigail died in the failed science experiment. Sorry.  
> NOTE: Also, Tadashi got money from Callaghan for the child abuse he suffered and for the money that  
> parents have to supply for their children.
> 
> Also, this chapter is definitely T+ because it deals with kissing and little bit more than that (mentions of masturbation and such) so do not read if that makes you uncomfortable. It does not contain sex though, so uhm, take that as you will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _From the thunder and the storm,_  
>  _And the cloud that took the form_  
>  _(When the rest of Heaven was blue)_  
>  _Of a demon in my view._  
>  -Edgar Allen Poe

* * *

 

Why did this always seem to happen?

Hiro was really hoping he didn't get caught again, not after last time. Arg, where was his stamina when he needed it? Yama's thugs were catching up and Hiro was currently rethinking every one of his actions that had led up to this point. Why did he even go to illegal bot fights again? _I should get a real job_ , Hiro thought as he ran down the street.

He skidded into an alley and prayed that they would just run past. He heard footsteps and closed his eyes, breath coming out in short puffs.

"Where did that little brat go?" One of them growled and oh god, Hiro flattened himself against the alleyway wall. Why couldn't they just leave? He was trapped until they left, and it looked like they'd rather spend time just standing there talking about how they'd beat Hiro up when they found him. 

"Hey, did you guys lose something?" A new voice suddenly said to the thugs and Hiro perked up because he knew that voice. Oh thank god. Hiro was suddenly insanely grateful that his boy..boyfriend--arg, he wish he didn't stutter over that--was as observant as he was.

One of the thugs said, "beat it. We're looking for someone and unless you want to get beat too, you'll leave."

 _Oh, bad move,_ Hiro thought with a smirk and pressed a hand over his mouth because Tadashi definitely wouldn't let that fly. No less than three seconds after the threat had left the guy's mouth, Hiro heard the sound of the thug getting pushed to the ground. The clunk of head on sidewalk was audible. Yikes, that's gotta hurt. Tadashi didn't usually like violence, but he didn't go easy on people who beat up other people just for fun.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Tadashi said and Hiro peeked around the edge of the wall to watch. Tadashi had the bottom of his shoes pressed against the side of the guy's face and damn, he was wearing his motorcycle helmet. Hiro smiled at that and okay, maybe he thought that Tadashi looked hot in his bike gear. Really hot. _Focus_ , Hiro told himself adamantly. He could fawn over his boyfriend later.

"I'm getting real tired of dealing with you jerks," Tadashi said and Hiro shivered. He was sure that the thugs did to, though probably for different reasons. He watched the other thugs scatter with curses and Tadashi removed his foot from the guy's head, letting him stand up. He let him go with a "I better not see you around here again."

The last of Yama's guys cleared out and Tadashi sighed and removed his helmet. Hiro wasn't sure what he'd done to be lucky enough to date Tadashi but here he was. He walked out of the alley and pretended to brush off his clothes. He didn't want Tadashi know that he'd been basically drooling over him beating up those thugs. Tadashi smiled at him with concern and obvious relief.

He held up his fist and Hiro gave him a fist bump. "You okay?" Tadashi asked and Hiro nodded.

"Yeah, thanks for the saving." Hiro smiled and Tadashi mock-bowed, "anytime."

"Anytime? You want to promise that?"

"Of course. I promise."

"So you still have the trackers in my hoodies, huh?" Hiro smiled and Tadashi shrugged.

"You never took them out."

That was true. Things had been going really well lately. Callaghan was still in jail (and would be for a long time) and an official funeral had been held for the passing of Abigail. A memorial was also built in the park from city funds. Callaghan had also been sued and large amounts of his money had been given to reconstruction and his only relative, Tadashi. With the money, Tadashi and Hiro had bought an apartment in the middle of the city. Not hotel-hopping was a huge stress-reliever and even better since they lived together.

Hiro opened his hand and Tadashi's slipped into it. They'd been dating for a few months now, and yet just holding hands made Hiro's heart go fast and his cheeks flush. He hadn't known how bad he was with romantic situations until he started being in them. Luckily (or was it unluckily?), Tadashi was extremely easygoing and didn't go any further than Hiro went. So that meant hand holding and cheek kisses and the occasional lip-to-lip kiss that happened as often as a solar eclipse were all that happened. Seriously, for two 15-year-old boys, they were as platonic as things got. Which worried Hiro a little.

See, it wasn't like Hiro hadn't thought about doing...different things with Tadashi. He did. Probably a little more than he should since they shared a flat. But he just couldn't help it! Tadashi was constantly letting him borrow his sweaters and, well, anything Hiro asked for, really. Jacking off was a nightmarish hustle with the constant worry that Tadashi would walk in and catch Hiro doing stuff while wearing Tadashi's clothes. That meant that Hiro really didn't have as much time to jack of as he'd like and he was too embarrassed to talk or even mention it to Tadashi. At night, there was nothing between their beds but a small divide and Hiro really wanted to gather the courage to just go around in and crawl into Tadashi's bed but...arg!

Hiro blushed and his grip on Tadashi's hand tightened for a second, causing the other boy to look at him with a raised eyebrow. They reached Tadashi's motorcycle and Hiro wrapped his arms around Tadashi's chest. His heart fluttered and he wondered if Tadashi could feel how fast it was beating against his back. Needless to say, the ride to The Nerd hideout was utter torture.

When they got there, Tadashi pushed in the password as Hiro struggled from the motorcycle. Oh gosh, Hiro felt his skin burn. It didn't help that The Nerd hideout didn't have air conditioning. It felt like 100 degrees outside and that meant it was at least that hot inside as well. _At least I can blame my blush on the heat_ , Hiro thought, always the optimist. Tadashi sat down at his computer and started doing that thing where he runs his hand through his hair until he figures out the bug in his program. Usually Hiro could just ignored it. Today though, for some reason it was driving him crazy. Not in a that-annoys-me way, but in a I-want-to-touch-your-hair-like-that kind of way. Hiro was pretty sure that his fingers were twitching from the effort it took not to walk over and just mess up Tadashi's hair. _Arg, focus. Focus_ , Hiro thought angrily as he stared at the robot parts in front of him. He was supposed to be working on building a self-regenerating engine but he couldn't concentrate.

Eventually, he gave up and walked over to the couch to take a nap because maybe he was just tired. Nah, Hiro knew that wasn't it but what else was he supposed to do? He threw an arm over his eyes and tried to close them and sleep goddammit but sleep kept alluding him. Instead, he ended up listening to the sound of Tadashi's fingers on his laptop keys. A fast and steady _clack-clack-click-click-clack_. He saw the way Tadashi looked confused and then excited over his code and god, it just wasn't fair for someone to be so attractive and cute and insanely smart all at the same time.

"Hey, want to join me?" Hiro asked. He said it lightly, the way he would make a joke. On some level, Hiro didn't want to overstep their previous comfortable boundaries, but on another level he really, really did. Tadashi stopped typing and leaned back in his chair, looking over at the couch.

"Join you where?"

Hiro smiled and patted the couch underneath him, making a faux seductive eyebrow waggle, "here."

Tadashi tilted his head but shrugged and got up, stretching. His shirt rode up and exposed part of his stomach and, okay, Tadashi had to be doing that on purpose. Hiro blinked and then blushed as the other stood in front of the couch, looking at him.

"So, where do I sit?" Tadashi asked and Hiro shrugged, hands fidgeting with the cloth of his shirt. Hiro knew that Tadashi wouldn't do anything if Hiro didn't do it first or ask for it so that meant that he had to make the first move. _Come on, take initiative!_

"Well, I was thinking that. Uhm. You could get on top of me." As soon as the words left his mouth, Hiro knew he'd kind of messed that up. Real Romanic. Ugh. He wasn't good at this kind of stuff but god, he really wanted Tadashi on top of him. Kissing him and...well. Hiro looked up to see Tadashi's reaction.

Tadashi blushed and looked a little nervous but he nodded and crawled onto the couch. His knees settled at Hiro's sides and his hands were on either side of his head. Hiro sat up on his elbows and hell yeah, this was awesome.

"Can I kiss you?" Hiro asked because they always asked beforehand. Really, it just seemed like common curtesy. Hiro reached up and took off Tadashi's baseball hat, dropping it in front of the couch.

Tadashi smiled and one of his hands ran through Hiro's hair, "Kind of sudden, hm? Didn't know that you liked the helmet that much."

Hiro shrugged in embarrassment and tried to glare but kind of failed because of the way Tadashi was smiling. Hiro had to admit that he liked it when Tadashi wore his Mystery Guy gear. "You looked cool," hiro grumbled and Tadashi laughed. Then Hiro was done getting laughed at and hooked his arms around Tadashi's shoulders, bringing him down into a kiss. They'd only started heavy-ish kissing a week ago so it was still pretty knew. Usually it ended with one of them getting a boner and freaking out. More often than not, that person was Hiro. He was still getting used to the whole intimate touching thing. Luckily, Tadashi was patient as ever with that too. Hiro got a lot more frustrated over stopping than Tadashi ever did.

"Like you"

Tadashi grinned into the kiss, "like you too."

Then Hiro was running his fingers up and down Tadashi's back, really enjoying the access this new position gave him. Tadashi shivered and that caused Hiro to shiver and god, they had to stop triggering each other like that. Okay, so Hiro was already hard, which was not really surprising because Tadashi was over him and kissing him and basically this was playing out like one of Hiro's late-night fantasies. Tadashi's mouth opened and Hiro ran his tongue over his bottom lip and suddenly they were frenching.

In movies, tongue kissing had never really appealed to Hiro because it looked really gross. Lots of spit being exchanged, weird faces, all of that. Now, in the middle of a very good french kiss, Hiro could say that all of that was worth how utterly amazing it felt. His nails dug into Tadashi's shirt and tadashi gasped and then Hiro wrapped a leg around Tadashi's back and--oh--that was officially the farthest they'd ever gotten. Tadashi settled in-between Hiro's legs and Hiro had to pull away because of how intense and good everything felt.

"Too much?" Tadashi asked, pulling back slightly. Hiro shook his head and held up one finger that meant one-second-while-I-recover.

"No, sorry. It just felt really good and uh," he looked down at his pants and Tadashi's eyes followed, "just...you know."

Tadashi said "oh" and shifted his knee a little, causing Hiro to gasp and bite his lip. Oh. "sorry," Tadashi said a little more hastily as he drew back entirely. Hiro almost cursed at the loss but took to just glaring at Tadashi, "I didn't say it was bad. I was just uhm, not sure how far you wanted to go."

Tadashi looked to the side, "we can go as far as you want to go."

"Do you ever jack off?" Hiro asked and really, it caught both of them by surprise. The question had been on Hiro's mind for a while because he'd never seen Tadashi jerk off. Ever. Which was a little weird because Hiro was certain that Tadashi had some idea of what Hiro did during his long showers and 'alone time's. But Tadashi took short, 5 minute showers and worked in the lab from early morning to the time he passed out at his desk. Hiro had no idea when Tadashi would have the time to jack off.

"I uh," Tadashi stuttered, "well, yeah. I do."

"When?"

Tadashi was quiet for a few seconds and Hiro raised an eyebrow. Tadashi licked his lips and looked at his hands.

"This is kind of weird I guess but," Tadashi stopped again and then said quietly, "when you're in the shower."

That had really not been what Hiro expected. Another shiver ran through his body and he had to disguise it as a cough. Jesus, that really shouldn't be as hot as it was. Tadashi jerked off to the thought of him in the shower. If Hiro hadn't been hard before he definitely was now. Tadashi, on the other hand, looked a little distressed.

"I don't like peek on you or anything! It's just uhm, you know. I--"

Hiro covered Tadashi's mouth with his hand, grinning up at him, "that's kind of hot."

He felt tadashi's warm breath against his palm and he leaned up and kissed Tadashi's forehead. Then he kissed his jaw and mouthed at the area between Tadashi's chin and throat, causing the other to tilt his head with a muffled sound. Now that's what Hiro liked to hear.

"Looks like you have a problem down there." Hiro said quietly, smirking. He kissed Tadashi again, pressing the other boy into the couch cushions. Tadashi's hands clenched in Hiro's shirt, dragging the cloth down Hiro's shoulder.

"At least I'm not the only one," Tadashi said with a similar grin and Hiro couldn't stop feeling like he was falling so deep for this boy. He couldn't help it, couldn't help the landslide of emotions. He stopped the kissing and instead rested his face against Tadashi's shoulder, his arms wrapping around his shoulders in a hug. Tadashi shook his head with a laugh and then wrapped his arms around Hiro as well.

"You're confusing," Tadashi said, his breath warm on Hiro's skin.

"You like it." Hiro mumbled against his shoulder, his eyes closing.

"On a scale from one to ten, how happy are you?"

"I'm extremely satisfied with my care," Hiro laughed, "but you better not leave."

 

"I won't," Tadashi said, a smile on his lips. "I promised."

* * *

 

The End


End file.
